The Little Sparrow
by LuciaGiugno
Summary: A new character is being introduced - Suzume, or, in English, Sparrow. A thief, but not a beggar, she's completely alone in the world except for her little dog, Ashi, and Takashi is curious. Please give it a go(: I don't know what will happen yet, but I really want to find out! Rating for safety/future. All Ouran HSHC characters belong to their creators, respectfully.
1. The Hopes of a Madman

Takashi and Suzume (and Zutazuta)

**Narrator**- Takashi and Mitsukuni were walking through the city, eager to see their friends for the sleepover. Mitsukuni was sitting on Takashi's shoulders and talking non-stop in his ears. By the time they reached the market district, Takashi thought that Mitsukuni had covered everything there is to do at sleepovers, yet he kept going, so Takashi kept walking.

'- and if they don't have the strawberry cake then I'll have to go out and buy so- Taka-chan! Taka-chan look!' He pointed Takashi's head in the direction of a dessert stall on the other side of all the stalls and throng of people. 'Please, Taka-chan! We should not show up without a gift!' Takashi couldn't argue with this, it would be very inconsiderate to stay at their friends house without bringing some form of recompense, so he nodded and began to make his way through the crowd. It was then that, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the boy. Takashi heard him whisper: 'We'll eat like commoners!'

**Suzume**- If I pull this off, I won't be hungry for a few days! 'We'll eat like commoners!' I whisper, breathing out a small laugh. Okay, so the fruit vendor is distracted by his customer, who shouldn't be a problem unless there's a commotion behind me, which there shouldn't be because it's only the seniors playing their game. Keep walking, keep walking. Can't stand still for too long else I'll look suspicious! Right, the crowd is thick on either side of me, so the only people I have to worry about are the customer and the old men. Easy, I smirk. Perfect timing, I sweep past the stall and grab-

**N**-he skilfully grabs a few apples, kiwis and plums from the stall, sipping them into a sack-cloth, obviously a makeshift bag. A petty thief. Takashi stops and turns fully around. If it wasn't for his heightened senses, he wouldn't have noticed the boy at all. Covered head to toe in the grime of the city back-streets, no shoes, ripped shirt and frayed trousers, and this kid had every bone showing. He was barely alive, yet he seemed quite proud of his scoop. He had tucked his hair under a ragged cap and was limping off to an alley down the side of a small, abandoned house where, undoubtedly, the mice flourished, the spiders nested and every unpleasant thing you've ever known made it's home. Takashi put Mitsukuni down and told him to choose a dessert for everyone.

'Taka-chan, where are you going?' Mitsukuni asked, staring up at him and clutching Usa-chan, his stuffed bunny, to his chest.

'To find something,' he replied. 'Three minutes, okay?' For a second, Takashi considered leaving the boy alone and going with Mitsukuni to the dessert shop, but his reluctance to leave Mitsukuni, although still ever-present, was assuaged when Mitsukuni smiled and, turning around to run to the stall, called 'Okay, Taka-chan!' The boy really loves his desserts, he thought, stretching his arm behind his head and turning around to face the alley.

When he reached the mouth of the alley, he stopped and lent against the building's wall, listening. He could see the boy's reflection in the glass objects of another stall, so he could also see the boy pause as he spotted two small figures rummaging through a trash -

**S**- cans at the end of the alley. There was nothing inside of them. I step forward and the two turn around in fright. It's a little girl and a little boy, and my heart almost breaks right then and there. They back up against the trash cans, the little boy stumbling over the bins. I raise my hands in a gesture of peace and make a shushing sound. They stop, the little girl standing protectively in front of the little boy. How old are they? They're so tiny, and age is hard to tell when you're on the streets. Age doesn't matter. But I can't just leave them. I won't just leave them to starve. I take off my cap, hoping they'll see me as less as a threat when they realize I'm -

**N**- a girl! Her hair falls out of the cap and the boy tries to walk towards her. 'Kaasan!' he cried, but the girl held him back. The… girl... drops to her knees and presents the fruit she stole.

'Here,' she says, giving the fruit to the girl who stares at it hungrily. 'Take it.' She takes the bag offered to her with the fruit inside of it and bows her head in respect. Then she takes the boy, who is now looking at the kind, raggedy girl with sad, confused eyes, and runs out of the alley. Takashi watches the girl carefully pin her hair back under the cap before opening the bag carried on her back and bringing out a small dog, who also looks starved and unkempt. Its fur is matted with dirt, and it's probably riddled with fleas, but the girl hold the puppy up to her face and allows it to lick her nose. She smiles and hugs the dog, whose small tail is wagging frantically. Takashi sighs out of sadness. They only have each other.

The girl brings out of her shirt a banana and an apple that she must have taken before the girl took the bag. She bit into the apple, but, to Takashi's surprise, after chewing it up, then she spit it out into a small bowl that she'd also grabbed from her bag. 'Come on, Zuta-kun, will you join me for dinner?' She laughs as the small dog wags his tail and barks softly. Setting him down, he runs up the steps to the door of the abandoned house and disappears behind the fabric used for a door. The girl looks around carefully, making sure there aren't any uninvited guests, before she, too, disappears behind the curtain. Takashi, after glancing at Mitsukuni, who is in deep conversation with the stall owner, walks into the broken home of the stray girl and her dog.

**S**- 'Oh, don't look at me like that,' I say, sitting crossed-legged against the wall, where I could watch the shadows grow as the last rays of sunlight left us in darkness and see the mothers hurry their children back home, watch the fathers and brothers with their briefcases stride through the market to their families, their warm homes, comfortable beds and hot food. They might get seconds if they ask nicely. A little girl falls over, and I lean forward. Just as I thought she would, her mother bent down and dried the child's face with her thumb. Smiling, she helped the little girl up, and, holding hands, they continued on their way home. The little boy and girl I met a few minutes ago creep back into my mind, and I see them, in my mind's eye, sat with a man and a woman, bowing their heads together before serving the food. They were happy, and they were healthy. But they aren't. They were being killed compassionately.

Zuta-kun's stomach growls quietly, and I look away to watch the sun set. 'I had to - they would have died,' I defend my actions to Zuta-kun, my best and only friend. He's staring at me with sad, tired eyes because I'm only letting him have a few mouthfuls of apple. He should have been able to eat half of it, but, since I gave away the rest of our food, I have to ration the two pieces of fruit we have until I can lift some more. Zuta-kun drops his head and shuffles over to sit in my lap. I rub behind his ears affectionately, and he rests his chin on my thigh, looking up at me again. This small bundle of fur and bones, but I can only feel warmth and love and trust as he gently dozes off. 'Yeah… One day, it'll be different. It'll be better. We'll have our own house, with beds. You'll have the softest bed, filled with feathers and covered in blankets. You'll have a bowl of food that won't need chewing up first, and, more importantly, it'll never run out! We'll be clean for the first time in years, and finally get rid of this horrible wet-dog smell!' I laugh and pet his matted fur softly, feeling the rise and fall of his chest and he snoozed.

'In fact, we'll have so much money that people will work for us, cook for us, clean for us. We'll have the life, Zuta-chan.' I say all of this, and I imagine it. And for a second, it's all so real that the crumbling wall I'm leaning againsts feels less solid, and the floor I'm sat on feels like it's a cushion. I slide down the wall a little, so only my shoulders are touching it, lift Zuta-chan, who is now fast asleep, and place him against my chest, our heartbeats, both erratic, both familiar to one another, drumming away, and stretch out my legs. The sun has set, and I'm almost comfortable. Not comfortable in the slightest, but almost. This is the delusion of a madman and the illusion of hope.

**N**- Takashi heard their breathing slow and deepen as they fell asleep while the stars came out. He turned around and carefully made his way out. Mitsukuni was bound to have chosen a cake by now, and the shopkeeper was most likely wanting to close his shop to go home. Not to a cold, rotting house without windows or floorboards, but to warmth and comfort and family and food. But he could not interfere; it wasn't his place. Besides that, it would probably scare the girl, that he had followed her and found her home… and discovered her secret. 'Why are the girls here always pretending to be guys?' He mused, walking towards the dessert shop, where Mitsukuni was being ushered out of the store by an old man.

'Taka-chan! I bought a chocolate one, a strawberry one, a red velvet one and another one that's covered in strawberries! That last one is for Haru-chan only! Do you think that's okay?' said Mitsukuni, clambering onto Takashi's shoulders with Usa-chan under one arm and the bag of desserts hanging from the other.

'Yeah,' said Takashi, walking in the direction of the twins' home. And do you know what, Reader? Takashi did not think about the starving girl with her faithful dog. Not once.


	2. An Empty House

**NB/ I'm sorry that I won't be posting regularly, but I have a lot of school work/work/extra activities, so please be patient. Also, a good story can't be rushed(; Thank you for reading, too! It's really interesting to find that people actually enjoy reading what I write, and it gives me some confidence in my abilities, so thankyou (or, arigatogozaimasu)(:**

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**N**- Takashi and Mitsukuni arrive at the twins' mansion. It's beautiful, with a cross of traditional architecture in the surrounding buildings and a more western-style main house of something similar to Cotswold Stone. The whole estate is old and grand, no matter which angle you view it from. It has high windows in the main house, and, standing on the outside, you can see the quality of the velvet curtains which are draped over the top of each window and falling down the sides, secured with opulent curtain hold-backs. The furnishings on the inside all reflect the wealth of the owners, who are hardly ever present. The settees and chairs are adorned with cushions, which are fluffed and plumped regularly, and the tables - coffee tables, glass tables, patio tables, dinner tables and bedside tables among some - are dusted twice a day, morning and evening by the many staff employed to keep the mansion running smoothly. Despite the large number of staff, however, the house still feels empty. It's too big. Any laughter would echo down the corridors, the sound floating into rooms filled with beautiful oddities, but completely empty of the most important things. And there are so many rooms, reader. So many of these empty rooms that have never been filled before. Is it any wonder that Hikaru and Kaoru grew up to be such lonesome people? But today is different. For once, this empty house will be a home.


End file.
